Of Betrayals, Hate and Home
by Anaxn
Summary: Kabuto and Sakura were never as they seemed. Wearing a mask had become an art form for them. Their lives played out on a silver stage, spattered with blood and the bitter tears of betrayals. A series of short tales about Kabuto Hyuuga and Sakura No Oto.
1. Ecstacy

Kabuto simply sat there in pure ecstasy, enjoying what light and sun he could get. Grass and bugs were minor annoyances compared to the simple feeling of strong sunlight on his skin. Orochimaru's lair did not get much of it. The sun glowed orange and red dots behind his eyes and he grinned irrationally as he simply sat there enjoying the bright light. Then he opened his eyes, letting light flood his vision, everything visible to his light purple eyes. Everything was right with the world.


	2. Mock Games

"Come on Neji! I know you can do better than that!" Kabuto Hyuuga taunted lightly. The young new prodigy made a face, charging his older cousin, who dodged nimbly. Giving another short laugh, he was reprimanded by his cousin's complaints.

"It's not fair, Kabuto! How can I hit you if you keep dodging?"

"That's what you're supposed to be figuring out!"


	3. Severe Temptation

Kabuto covered his face with his hands, giving a groan of exasperation and sunken dreams. He picked up his head, staring sadly at the Hyuuga family compound only two blocks away. He couldn't go there. It would blow every story he had fabricated since he was 8. He would probably be attacked or worse, be discovered by Orochimaru there. But it still tugged at him with the sort of power only a dear piece of someone's past can. Hinata was there. Hinata, the sister he barely even knew, the sister he so desperately wanted to talk to. He had lost her without even knowing her. The cruelest twist of fate, but one he had been party to. And one he once had the power to stop. Giving another whine of desperation, Kabuto tore himself away from the sight, bolting back to Orochimaru's current hideout.


	4. Owner of a Lonely Heart

He watched Shizune with some amount of respect and interest. As Tsunade's apprentice, she was not to be taken lightly. Those poison needles earlier had been the work of a master. But even in that drab grey kimono and simple haircut, she was incredibly attractive. There was a quality of protectiveness and also righteous anger that he simply found irresistible. He mentally brought himself back. She was the enemy. He had no right to fall in love with her. Yet Romeo and Juliet sprung to mind when he thought of them together. He nearly hit himself. Wrong thinking, he reprimanded himself. She is not on your side. She is not even sympathetic. Better a lonely heart than a broken one, he thought to himself. But ever after that encounter, his thoughts wandered to her.


	5. Repulsion

He looked at Orochimaru, trying to repress a shudder as the older man licked his lips hungrily at the thought of Sasuke. There were many things very wrong about this man. Kabuto shivered as he realized he only knew the most basic of them. But there was still something fundamentally wrong with a man like Orochimaru. There was very little he would stop at, and very little he held any esteem for. Power was one of them, and fortunately for Kabuto he held a great bit of this, even without his Byakugan. The only other thing he possibly held any other thought for was planning. He himself didn't have very much of this, but that was why he had Kabuto. The double agent shivered again. But these qualities were not redeeming in this man. He was a monster.


	6. I Never Wanted This

Kabuto bowed his head, somewhat ashamed. The Hokage had her hand reassuringly on his shoulder, but it did nothing to reduce the burden on his heart. The villagers in front of him were all together shocked and several looked hostile. He had expected it to go this way. No one could possibly believe that he was a Hyuuga, or a double agent working for them after Orochimaru's attack on Konoha. He had thrown himself to the devil too many times for them to at all consider him an ally. After all, wasn't he the one who was their village traitor's right hand man? The one the foul monster trusted most? He was the one who help Orochimaru heal, who helped him nearly kill their current Hokage, and also take the last Uchiha from their village and pervert him to Orochimaru's mold? He hadn't wanted this. He wanted to remain in the shadows forever, maybe be declared dead and come home later with an alias. But not this. He was certain he would not be able to lift his head for the glares leveled at his head. Then all of a sudden, a small voice rung from the crowd.

"I believe him." He recognized it and his head shot up in amazement. It was his sister.

"He told me this, three years ago." Hinata said quietly.


	7. Loving Teases

Kabuto tucked his son Omoide in, letting the boy slumber quietly. He then tiptoed into the bed room next door, when Shizune lay reading a medical manual.

"Hey there, big momma." He smirked, sliding into bed with her. She gave him a playful glare over her pregnant stomach.

"Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean you can call me big momma."

"But I think I'm starting to like the nickname."


	8. Testing the Truth

"And what makes you think I'll believe you?" Shizune asked stubbornly. Her face was dead set against any convincing and it showed in her stance as well. Kabuto gave a sigh of nearly lost patience.

"Would I have delivered myself into enemy hands if I wasn't telling the truth? Here." He took her hand, which she tried to jerk away, over his heart. She looked at him strangely, as though she didn't understand.

"You know the technique chakra scalpel, right?" She nodded, not understanding where this was going, and he relished in the confused look on her face.

"Activate it." She did, reluctantly, and her hand glowed blue on his chest.

"If I'm lying, you can rip out my heart right here."

*For those of you who recognize this, it is what inspired me to write Confessional.*


	9. Death, Plain and Simple

He lay there, bleeding from at least 14 different wounds. He nearly giggled in mania, and felt every single one of them again as his chest heaved in silent laughter. So this was how it ended, lying dead in a field of his enemies. He wondered when Shizune would become worried. She was used to her husband's habit of disappearing for long periods of time, so he might be dead when she found him. Oh well, that didn't matter much. He looked over at the only person in the field standing, a figure in a long brown dress with a purple snake wrapped around it. Her snake-like eyes watched him with a sort of derision and scorn.

"Well Sakura, I guess you've got me. Would you like me to say hello to your father?"


	10. Prescision

The ANBU had been too easy. The one in front of the door was out before he knew what hit him, a very clean severing in the spinal cord. In fact, it was bloodless. The second nearly died of fright, until Kabuto literally stopped his heart's blood flow. That would have killed him in a neat three minutes, but Kabuto didn't have that kind of time, so he also stopped blood flow to the brain. The third wasn't as neat. Scrambling up the man's nervous signals gave him the time though to make neat incisions through the man's mask and give him a new face, though.


	11. Bolting

He barreled through the window, grains of glass glinting next to his head. He landed on a tree branch and immediately took off, knowing he would be pursued. Kabuto looked back over his shoulder, noticing that the two guards that originally guarded Sakura were the ones following him. He couldn't bring himself to hurt them, this he knew. He couldn't hurt members of Sakura's new staff, even if they were Orochimaru's before.


	12. Face in the Crowd

As a child, Sakura rarely experienced moments were she was actually a child. Most of the time was spent fawning over, and secretly investigating, Sasuke. But when he was unavailable for assailing, she could actually feel like a citizen of Konoha and not just a spy. Just wander the bright streets and buy a bean dumpling, sit on a bench and watch the people walk by. She could talk with the other kunoichi of her class, joke with them, train with them. Be one of them.


	13. Return Mission

Kabuto stumbled to his door step, opened the door with a flash of his own chakra and leaned heavily on the wooden post of his doorway. Panting, he carefully walked into the living room so that his unsteady steps would not be heard.  
"Kabuto?" A young woman's voice asked from around the corner and Shizune trod barefoot into the room. She was dressed in her nightgown, but it was obvious from her worried eyes that she had not been using it.  
"Are you okay? I was worried this might be the night." She hustled over to him, helping him out of his filthy ANBU armor, much to his relief.  
"No, not today. Just a difficult mission." He whispered from exhaustion, peeling the blood-caked breast plate from himself. He could feel himself shaking from exhaustion and chakra loss. Shizune looked up and kissed him, the solid warmth of her kiss making him want to melt in her arms. She looked up at him.  
"I'm just glad you're alright."


	14. Tag!

"I'm gonna get you, Nii-san!" Little Sakura cried out, running after her self-proclaimed brother down another dimly-lit hallway.  
"Oh, you just might!" The twelve year old replied, making sure he didn't run too fast for her. After all, she was still only four. He turned another corner, deciding to give up after two more turns. However, as he rounded the next one, he slammed into a solid wall of force and fell backwards with a rush of air. His head hurt from hitting the floor and the next thing he knew, Sakura was sitting on top of him, poking his forehead and yelling,  
"I got you Nii-san!" To this, he didn't reply, because her father was standing right behind her, an odd look on his face that might be considered either laughter or death.


	15. Surprise

Suddenly a large weight threw itself onto Kabuto's back and the ninja nearly fell to the ground. Resisting the urge to duck and roll, he turned and looked behind him, to see his son Omoide perched on his back, beaming.  
"Piggy back ride!"


	16. He Lives In You

Sakura punched the wall with such force that even the underground palace shook. Glaring at the mirror in front of her with enough anger to cause seven years of bad luck in itself, she gave another cry of rage and despair and nearly tore apart a bath towel. Sobbing, she dropped to her bathroom floor and began crying, pummeling the ground with her fists. She then stopped, staring at her pale bruised skin and stood, looking at the mirror again, facing her snake-like eyes and purple eye tattoos. Choking back another cry of pain, she shook her head, tears flying from her face.  
"Father, why father, why..." She whispered, dropping to her knees again and rocking back and forth as though to comfort herself.


	17. Old Habits Die Hard

Kabuto grimaced as he stared down at his comrade, bleeding from terrible stomach burns. He glance over at the rest of his team, who had their hands full with the enemy, but seemed to be holding their own. He then bent, placing his hands over the hideous wound. A sudden flash appeared to him, of a canyon filled with blood and ninjas lying dead all around him.  
"Please don't die," He found himself chanting under his breath, something he did back when he was much younger, back when who he claimed to be was never contested.  
"Please don't die."


	18. The Beginning

He met the man outside of Konoha's walls, just as the message had said, just as Sarutobi had sent him. Kabuto nervously gripped his meager bag, slung over his shoulder and packed with nothing that he really owned that wasn't generic and several items that weren't even his. The man's white kimono was the first thing to appear, materializing out of the forest as quickly as Kabuto could blink, which was fairly fast.  
"Are you ready?" He hissed quietly, like a viper preparing to strike. The boy shivered but nodded, knowing with all of his being that what he was doing was exceeding dangerous and needed to be done anyway. He set off from Konoha in the company of Orochimaru, looking back only once.


	19. Broken

Her life was filled with one loneliness and broken promise after another. First the promise of a life with her father in Sound Country, only to have this broken by the very same family member. Her only family member. Then her life with Kabuto in her father's tunnels, playing games and comforting each other, to be stopped by her transfer to Konoha. The next nine years were all a lie, lived alone and without true friends. Then her love for Sasuke and her ultimate sacrifice for him, all was broken by the fact that he didn't care. Then, after her father's death, Kabuto, her self-proclaimed brother, leaves her and betrays her. One happiness after lie after broken promise.


	20. Bitter Reunion

Sakura hugged him with all her might, rocking back and forth in the field in his arms. Kabuto pretended that he didn't really need to breath and continued to hold Sound Country's leader in his arms, to hold his adopted sister and comfort her.  
"Couldn't we just forget it all?" The thirty year old village leader whispered, tears trailing from the cruel purple tattoos curved wickedly around her eyes. Her pale face was flushed red from crying.  
"No. Even I don't know a jutsu for that." The older man replied quietly. He continued rocking her as he did when she was younger, Hyuuga eyes full of mercy and heartbreak as he gazed down at her. His wounds throbbed and screamed, but he ignored them, just as he ignored the fact that the one who caused them was sitting in his lap.  
"We can never forget who we are. How would you feel if you never were Sakura Haruno?" She glared up at him, years of betrayed hate in her eyes. He simply stared, knowing the answer to his question from her eyes.  
"I could never give that up." She said, turning away from him. Kabuto Hyuuga smiled sadly, knowing that he too would never give up his life in Konoha for anything.  
"But would you like to recapture some of that? It doesn't have to be this way." He insisted, not bothering to keep his precious blood from staining her dress. Sakura of Sound Country didn't look at him, staring instead at the field of her defeated shinobi.  
"If we allied, you could still visit. I know it would be hard, but we could rebuild some level of trust here. Sakura," He admonished, pulling her chin to his face so he could look at her. The amount of pain etched in her red-flushed face didn't surprise him, but it stung him none-the-less. He stared into the cobra's eyes, matching them with his own hypnotizing violet eyes.  
"I know what you're feeling. We don't have to be enemies though. We can make this work." He kissed her forehead like her father used to do when she was four, and she sobbed slightly in his arms.  
"We can make this work."


	21. Terror

He just screamed. He slammed open the stone door and bolted down the hall way, silver hair streaming behind him. His breath shrieking out in hyperventilated measure, he dodged down a few more corners, then stumbled as he over-balanced, fell and skidded into a corner. There he curled up into a ball, whimpering and crying. A tall figure then walked around the corner, approaching him with measured steps.  
"Kabuto," The man began, but the young boy whispered in a terrified voice,  
"No more... you can't make me do that..."


	22. SimplifyComplicate

He crouched on the city's thick wall. Sometimes he wondered whether or not he should actually betray them. If he did, it would just simplify this entire web of lies; no more double lives to lead, no more family members to deceive. But even as he thought this, the image of the third Hokage blocked his vision, the old man smiling and tipping his hat to the future spy. And again, the urges were suppressed. But Kabuto knew that those cruel instincts were still there, as they had been, as nurtured as they had been by Orochimaru.


	23. Playing Possum

"Daddy stop it! Stop it!" The young boy giggled, writhing on the bed as his father mercilessly tickled his middle. The silver haired shinobi smiled and continued to make his son squirm. Suddenly the brown haired boy shoved his father in the shoulder, pushing him off the bed much to the surprise of the older man. He landed on the floor hard, then lay there unmoving. The boy looked over worriedly, worrying he might have put too much chakra into the strike.  
"Dad?" The man lay still for a bit, then leapt up, hoisting the boy into the air, his Hyuuga eyes sparkling.  
"You won't get me that easily!"


	24. My Father?

"So tell us about your dad!" Ino asked loudly, staring blatantly at the pink haired girl sitting quietly a little outside the group. Sakura looked up, surprised and more than a little fearful. For a moment, her real father flashed through her head, Orochimaru, the king of Sound Country, the Snake Sannin with pale skin and purple tattoos. The man who had left her, merely six years old, in an enemy village to spy for him. Then she remembered her cover and smiled. Hopefully no one had seen her flinch.


	25. Experienced

Kabuto smiled lazily as he leaned against the window of the exam's meeting room. There were about 150 people here, all to take this silly chuunin exam. He, of course, had taken it about seven times and by now knew every question they would throw at him, as well as the best way to survive. But still, he had to seem like the innocent genin he used to be, and so, he managed to fail every year. Suddenly a loud yell at the front of the room drew his attention, as well as that of everyone in the room. He looked over and saw an orange jumpsuit, a pink dress and a blue shirt, and knew instinctively that they were young, inexperienced and completely in need of his help.


	26. Just a Little Trust

"Trust me, Sakura." He insisted, holding out both his hands to her. The four year old stared at them cautiously, as though they, like her father's, would suddenly grow snakes and bite.  
"Do you promise it will be fun?" The little black haired girl held her own hands close to her body, fretting like an older woman, and Kabuto sighed.  
"Yes Sakura. I promise." Then she smiled, an innocent smile that Kabuto couldn't have known he would treasure for the rest of his life. But did anyway.  
"Okay! Then I'll let you spin me!"


	27. Understanding

Sometimes Sakura felt bad for him, although these were rare among her moments of anger. She knew what it was like to want a family, to want your family, and Kabuto's had been taken from him when he was little, like herself. But she still couldn't forgive him. Shouldn't they have been enough? Orochimaru and Sakura were all the family he needed, weren't they? Just the three of them, or maybe just two. Orochimaru hadn't been the best father in the world. But still, the point persisted. Why did he need his clan, who had wanted him because he had been a protégée, not because of who he was, when he had her? His Nay-chan, his little sister, who needed him as much as he had needed her. She was all the family he ever needed. But he left her, tried to kill her. Tried to kill his family. Her.


	28. This Is Who I Am

For a few moments, he felt incredibly ashamed simply by her presence. She was in her level two state, snake-skin clad and Medusa-like. It was awe-inspiring, and fear-inducing, merely to be in the presence of someone like that. Not only that, but that he had betrayed this terrible creature, this almost perfect picture of righteous anger. But then he remembered himself. That he had betrayed her for the better good, against that monster that was her father, and for the sake of his family, for poor Hinata who had never known her brother, never known he had even existed. And at that moment he could face her proudly and meet her eyes. Garnet green to amethyst purple.


	29. Power

And her chakra cloaked her like a dress and Sakura felt omnipotent, like she could take on the world with simply herself, in this heightened state. She closed her eyes, feeling her snake-covered head bask in the sun, absorbing the heat and turning it into chakra for her. It was only the chakra of her curse mark, but the feeling of it coursing over and under her scaled skin was like heaven.


	30. Future Plans

"Kabuto..." Shizune whispered, caressing his silver hair as it lay shining on the grass beside her face. The medical ninja looked up, one eyebrow raised, one arm draped gently over her waist, and his pale Hyuuga eyes tempted her to nuzzle his nose again. Propping herself upon her elbow, hand still stroking his hair, she asked,  
"What are you going to do once Orochimaru is dead?" There was silence as he stared at her for a moment, the enormity of what she had asked hitting him full in the face. Then he too pulled himself up on one elbow.  
"I don't know when he'll die." Kabuto said, staring off into space over his right shoulder. "The Third Hokage's curse took a huge chunk out of his power and already he's falling to some of the more curable illnesses. But I'd like to think," He said, letting himself flop back on the ground again, his hair splaying itself over her outstretched hand.  
"That I'll marry you."


End file.
